[The author clarifies two dominant methodologies that persist in U.S. Catholic social ethics as represented by J. Bryan Hehir and Michael J. Baxter. A comparative analysis of these reformist and radicalist approaches along with their theological foundations challenges contemporary perspectives on their coexistence, and it suggests ways in which the two might mutually inform one another. The author attempts to move methodological debates beyond rigid typologies and toward a more creative, dynamic tension between each model’s distinct emphases.]